


This Time It's Different

by kitsunaii



Category: Undertale
Genre: Eventual Smut, Gender Ambiguous, Joint-cracking kink, adult reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:25:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5035555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsunaii/pseuds/kitsunaii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You've fallen into this magical underground monster world, and you can't stop being fascinated by this short, punny skeleton.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [witchnsfw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchnsfw/gifts).



> Thanks to dinkywitch for getting me into the Bone Zone, I wouldn't have written this if not for you! And thank you to all of my amazing followers and friends from Tumblr for giving me so much positive support and feedback, I appreciate all of you so much!! I really hope you all enjoy this fic, it's been a lot of fun to write.

It's another idle day in the Underground, wandering around and talking to friendly monsters near Waterfall. Just between Snowdin and Waterfall is your favorite place, because you can enjoy the beauty of both places at once, and your early wandering is taking you close to Snowdin again. You've been staying with Sans and Papyrus, after you ran out of money for the inn three days after deciding to stick around, and you've been here for at least two weeks. You've lost track of exactly how long you've been here by now. You kind of miss Toriel since you stayed with her for a week before you decided the ruins were too small for you, but you feel like you will meet her again, so it's not painful to remember, just bittersweet. 

As you walk, lost in thought as you are, you absently press your knuckles to your palm, pushing on each finger in turn until you hear that satisfying crack. Your eyes wander while you practice that annoying habit of yours, and your eyes stop on the sentry post and Sans. He looks uncomfortable, and you realize after a few seconds that the tiny twitch you swear you can see him make is timed with the sounds your knuckles are making. 

"Oh.. Oh! Sorry, it's kind of a.. bad habit.." You grin sheepishly, letting go of your own hand, and he takes a shaky breath as you start to walk towards him. 

"No, don't uh.. don't worry about it.." You move to stand next to the stand, leaning on the front of it and resisting cracking your other hand. Sans is grinning, like usual, but the smile is different, like he's just gritting his teeth instead of genuinely smiling.

"Oh geeze, you really look upset, I really am sorry!" You feel awful for making your friend look so distinctly uncomfortable. Sans shakes his head. His hand was resting on the flat part of the stand, but it looks like he's gripping it now, like his knuckles would be white with strain if there was flesh and sinew stretched over the bone.

"It's my break time anyway.." He sounds nervous, for some reason, but you don't delve into it. You watch him walk away, in the opposite direction of Snowdin, hoping to catch a glimpse of how his 'shortcuts' work by watching, since you always seem to be missing bits of your memory when he takes you along.

"..Are you coming or not?" Oh well, maybe next time, you think as you follow in the skeleton's footsteps.

 

Sure enough, you suddenly find yourself inside of Grillby's, with no memory of getting there aside from taking a few steps toward Waterfall. Inside, the atmosphere is the same as ever, other patrons taking up most of the space with bulk and chatter. At first, this place made you feel like you were far, far from home, but now that you know everyone fairly well, it feels comforting to be surrounded by the voices and smells of the cramped diner. The two of you sit at the bar seats like usual and Grillby asks what you want. You both order the fries; you had a burger here for breakfast, since Papyrus doesn't understand that spaghetti is not the only thing one can possibly cook, and it is close to lunch at this point, or at least you think it is. It's hard to tell when there's no sun.

There is a conversation over lunch, but not a memorable one, just idle chatter from you and occasional puns from Sans, usually about bones but occasionally over dogs or potatoes, and you feel comfortably full after finishing all of your fries and most of Sans's. After a few more minutes of talk, you both get up and Sans goes back to work, leaving you to wander back to his house and take a nap on the couch for a while.

 

You are watching a movie with Sans much later when you impulsively start to crack your knuckles again. It does tend to happen when you're not completely with it, and this movie has pulled you in and made you forget the world, like movies do. After three of your left knuckles, you suddenly realize you're doing it and snap back to reality, remembering how Sans reacted earlier in the day. "Shit, sorry, I seriously need to work on-" You look at Sans and stop short. He is staring at the floor, his fingers digging into the couch, teeth clenched, and.. sweating? You stop yourself wondering how a skeleton sweats and reach for him, intending to apologize and.. you really don't know, just touch his arms comfortingly? 

Before you can do anything, he's grabbed your arm and is pulling you towards him. You have a mild panic response, your heart fluttering wildly, and then his other hand is on your other arm and you can feel the somewhat sharp fingertips digging into your skin and you are practically on his lap and you freeze, unsure of what to do with this. Is he mad at you..? But you look at his face and his grin is different, still clenched teeth but more of a smirk than discomfort, and you know he's not mad but you still don't fully understand what's going on. 

"..Sorry, I just.." Sans says as he loosens his grip on you and starts to pull away, but you grab his arm, feeling the strange smooth texture of the radius and ulna as you slide your hand down toward his wrist. You swear you can hear his breath catching, but.. does he even have lungs..? Your fingers graze his metacarpals and you push his hand up with your hand, gently pressing your palm to his, fascinated by the way his bones work, by how his hands look compared to your fleshy ones. 

You wonder suddenly if you might hurt him somehow, if he's weak and fragile like the skeletons from the science rooms you remember from above-ground, but he twists his hand slightly and closes his fingers between yours and you know he's not fragile, not at all. Looking at the bones enclosing your hand, the bones you're grasping with your hand, you feel like you should be afraid, or at least mildly unsettled, but you just feel warm and nervous. You give a shaky chuckle, meriting a look from Sans that makes you stop cold again.

"..Sans..?" Your voice cracks a little, and the fact that you're nervous seems to make him relax. "What are we..?" You trail off, really not sure what to say. You are still holding each other's hand, and your other hand is still gripping his arm, and he pulls his arm out of your grasp and reaches tentatively behind you to carefully touch your lower back, avoiding your gaze as you stare at him. He presses his hand into your shirt gently, pulling you closer, and you shift so that your leg is touching his leg on the couch.

"I knew you wanted to jump my bones, but this is ridiculous.." he says with a wry grin, and you scoff, shaking your head. You know at this point that he's comfortable enough with you that he won't be annoyed at your advances, that he might even welcome them, and you force yourself to stop being nervous.

"Then why not _throw me a bone_ before now, Sans?" You smile at your own pun, moving your hand to rest on the top part of his humerus. His jaw falls slightly, thrown off by your joke, but his normal grin comes back a moment later as he pulls you closer more forcefully, and your legs are on either side of him now and your heart is beating faster than you think is probably healthy, and you are on a skeleton's lap gazing into the pinpricks of light deep in his eye sockets that you think are his eyes and biting your lip, trying to figure out when your life took such a sharp turn into such a strange situation, and suddenly he closes the gap and kisses you somehow despite not having lips and your mouth opens as you kiss him back and you don't care how you got here, you just want it to never end.

Your hand roams over his shoulder, feeling the tiny ridges in the bone and the tiny ligaments that held him together. Your arm stretches over his shoulder to brush against his scapula, and you wince as your shoulder joint makes a loud crack. You look at Sans, about to apologize again, but he presses into you, squeezing your hand as his back arches slightly and lets out a tiny, almost inaudible groan. Oh... oh. No wonder he looked so uncomfortable earlier, he had been trying to work and he actually liked the sound, maybe a little too much. 

You grin, planting a kiss on his cheekbone as you pull your hand away from his arm, pull your other hand out of his hand, and lace your fingers together, suddenly pushing your palms away from each other and making all kinds of crackling and popping sounds with your joints.

"A-ah..." Sans squirms, grasping at your thigh with one hand and digging his fingers in, causing you to gasp in response. When you start breathing normally again, you grin at Sans. His eyes are closed and his teeth are clamped so tightly together you think he might break them. "You like that, don't you?" you tease, reaching for his face and gently pulling it closer to you. He grasps for your back, breathing hard and trailing his fingers that you can feel so intensely through your shirt. 

"Aahh.. You...." Sans moans, gripping handfuls of your shirt in his fists, tugging at it like he wants it gone. You hesitate, but decide to take it off, tossing it aside. His jacket is long gone and his shirt sleeves are pushed all the way up from your exploration. He takes his shirt off, too, piling it on top of yours. You take a good look at him, and he is, unsurprisingly, a normal skeleton, with a large ribcage and the same number of bones humans have in the same places. You wonder, not for the first time, why he is so accurate to a human skeleton, why he isn't a monster skeleton with different bones. He seems just as fascinated by you, used to seeing bones and tendons but never covered in muscle and flesh. His eyes dance over your skin, taking in the view, until you blush slightly and clear your throat. 

"Me what?" you finally respond, hooking your fingers into his ribs and pulling him closer to you. He shivers, clearly not used to being touched like that, and you run your fingers over the bones, tracing the shapes and curves of each rib, lightly scraping your nails along them. It seems to drive him crazy, and he doesn't say anything else until you stop for a moment. 

"Y-you.. You've never done this before.. With me, I mean.. " he mumbles, shaking his head in disbelief. You smile and lean in, kissing him on the cheek, then above his nasal cavity, then the other cheek. "No," you agree, gazing back at him, "but I've wanted to." He blushes, somehow, and you chuckle softly as he buries his face in your shoulder, holding you in his arms. You wrap your arms around him in turn, curling one around the back of his head to lay your hand flat against the bone. You can feel his ribcage pressed lightly into your bare skin, can feel the bones warming to your touch. 

This.. feels like home, you think. Just being here, being held, feeling so loved. It's different than with Toriel, who wanted to keep you in the ruins for safety. You know Sans fairly well by now, and you know he wouldn't keep you from moving on if you chose to, even if it made you both sad. It's a different kind of love. 

"Sans?" The skeleton doesn't respond. You gently push him away, and find that his eyes are tightly closed and his breathing has slowed. You still wonder how he breathes, but you shrug and try to pick him up. He's lighter than he looks, but he is still made of solid bone, so you struggle only a little bit as you carry him upstairs to deposit him in his room. 

You could get used to this.


	2. Chapter 2

Something is wrong with Sans. Something is wrong, and you don't know what it is, so despite your instinct to help literally anyone with whatever they need, despite the fact that you still don't know what your relationship is with the skeleton monster, you can't do anything about it.  
You noticed for sure this morning, when you convinced Papyrus to let you make eggs with your spaghetti noodles instead of sauce, and Sans didn't magically remove the pasta from his plate, instead leaving it there to harden and cool. He didn't look like himself; he looked much more distant than usual, more lost, and when you said his name to get his attention, he looked.. afraid. He refused to talk about it, insisting that everything was fine, that he was fine, but you know better than that. 

It's only been two months, but you know everyone by now; Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, even reclusive Alphys had come out one afternoon with Undyne. You're all friends now, and it's been a wonderful time, and you dread the fact that you do eventually have to try to leave, even though everyone seems so happy here. They want out. You don't want out. You are very selfish. You know this, but they think you're just afraid, and they pity you.

 

 _Creeeak... kerchunk!_ That's the door. It used to make you jump when Papyrus would come home suddenly from doing.. whatever it is he does all day, and he would fling the door open then slam it closed behind him. It has become routine by now, and you glance over at him. 

"Hey, Papyrus, what's up?" you ask over the background sounds of the TV. Papyrus is carrying a box, wrapped up with a bow on top. "..Is that a birthday present for someone?"

"Oh, this? It's nothing!" He shifts his eyes to the side and shuffled back a step, failing to hide the box behind his back. You smile and roll your eyes at the silly skeleton. "It's definitely not a birthday gift! ..Or any other sort of gift, for that matter!" He nods matter-of-factly. 

"...It's not for you, anyway, so don't worry about any non-existant presents or.. whatever!" Papyrus does his best to keep the present hidden from your direct line of sight, actually managing to drop it on the ground at one point, as he speeds across the living room and upstairs. You chuckle and shake your head at the skeleton's antics as you hear his door slam shut behind him upstairs. You really do want to know what's in the box, but you don't want to bother with trying to get him to tell you, and it doesn't mean enough to you to try prying into Papyrus's private matters to find out for yourself.

 _Creeeeak..._ "Not that I wouldn't get you a present for your birthday! I just don't know when your birthday is yet!" _Slam!_ You laugh, probably louder than you should, and go on doing nothing in particular. You feel like you've been waiting, you're just not sure what you're waiting for.

 

"..What's this?" You awaken to hear Sans upstairs from outside of his room; you hadn't heard him come in, which wasn't a surprise, but you hadn't meant to go to sleep on the couch in the middle of the day. Curious, you creep to the bottom of the stairs to listen. You hear crinkling and the sound of paper tearing, then cardboard shifting against cardboard. "...Papyrus? What's this for?"  
"SURPRISE!!!" Papyrus leaps out of his room; startled and wanting to hear what's going on without being noticed, you quickly move out of sight next to the staircase. 

"Papyrus, you know it's not my birthday.." Sans sounds confused, which is very uncharacteristic of him, and you confirm once again that your concerns are not misplaced.

"I know, but I noticed you've been sad! And I thought about what makes ME happy when I'm sad, and the only thing I could figure out was what makes me HAPPIER when I'm already HAPPY! And the only thing I could think of... was a birthday present!!" You hear Papyrus walk toward his brother heavily, probably going for a 'birthday' hug.. but Sans's voice is suddenly coming from closer to the stairs than to his room. 

"Papyrus.. I'm fine, I told you-" 

"Sans, I'm not stupid! I know you like to bottle things up and keep them, but I'm your brother!! You haven't been confiding in your friends, and I'm.. I'm worried about you!"

Silence. You carefully peek around the corner of the stairs, but all you can see is Papyrus standing alone near his door, heaving a heavy sigh. Sans had disappeared. As much as you wonder what was in that box, you're a lot more worried about Sans, so you decide to quietly, quietly go to the front door. You brace yourself for the creak, but it doesn't come as you open it slowly, so you close it behind you and go crunching through the snow. You know where to check for Sans when he's not at home. 

 

Grillby's is as packed as ever, but strangely, the bar seats that are almost constantly occupied by Sans and anyone he brings along with him are empty. You decide to stay anyway, flopping down on the barstool with a frustrated noise.

"Just an order of fries, please," you request when Grillby comes to take your order. He immediately goes into the back and gets you a fresh plate of them, placing it in front of you.  
"Where's Sans? You're usually not here alone..." Grillby looks as concerned as a guy with fire for a face can look. You shake your head. 

"I was kind of hoping you knew.. Has he been here today?" Grillby shakes his head no, then continues scrubbing the counter with a cloth. You eat your fries, but the worry eating you makes them taste like nothing. When you're done, you leave the money on the bill and place a tip under the edge of your plate, then step back outside into the crisp winter air. 

 

You're starting to thaw out a little after leaving Snowdin for Waterfall, but the damp air doesn't allow you to be fully warm. You shiver as you walk, wandering aimlessly but not speaking to anyone as you look for Sans. You pass by both of his telescopes, all of the sentry stands you know of, and make it all the way to the river where the flower bridges are, but you can't find him anywhere. 

You've just about given up when you notice a new bridge, one down in a small lake, and you decide to investigate. You squelch across it, the lily pads keeping your feet dry but giving slightly under your weight, and make it to a small wooden bridge. Around the corner is a small bench, and on the bench is Sans. 

"Sans!" you cry, forgetting to be careful on the slippery ground in favor of getting to his side quickly. He looks surprised to see you, but the surprise fades into that familiar grin. 

"I didn't expect to see you here.." He reaches out to touch your shoulder as you sit down next to him, and you lean towards him like you usually do. You know he doesn't mind.

"Sans, what's wrong?" You didn't mean to blurt it out like that, you should have lead up to it more gently, but you need to know. You can't help him until you know what's going on! 

"... Nothing, it's really nothing.. I know you were listening when Papyrus asked me, by the way." He gives you a look, like he's offended that you thought you could listen without him knowing, but you don't care. 

"Sans. I've known you for a while, I know you. You're acting weird and I'm really worried, and so is Papyrus! Please, tell me what's going on..." Your pleading doesn't seem to have any effect, so you turn on the puppy eyes and the little pout. "We just want to help you.." 

He is silent for a long time, but he doesn't remove his hand from your shoulder. "..If I told you..." His voice sounds more serious than you've ever heard it before. You shift closer on the bench, staring into his face. His grin widens as he continues, "...I'd have to kill you!"

You can't stop yourself from laughing a little, but you stop as quickly as you can." No seriously, what's going on? You can tell me anything, you know.."

His grin fades. "I.. I don't know, I really don't think you'd get it.." You frown, putting your arm around his shoulders and pulling him closer. "I know you mean well, but I really don't think I can tell anyone.." 

"Look at me," you say. Sans looks at you; the humor in his eyes has faded and he just looks anxious and worried. And possibly afraid. "I can take whatever you tell me, I will not think differently of you, I won't tell anyone unless you decide to tell them. I just.. I just want you to be happy again." 

"... Fine. But this doesn't leave here. You can't tell a single soul." He shakes his head, chuckling quietly. "I've never told you before, but this time feels different anyway.." 

"Tell me. Please."

"Alright. This is going to sound weird, so bear with me, please." You nod, and he goes on. "You've been here before. A bunch of times. You usually come through on your way to leave, but move on immediately, even before nightfall.. The one time you stayed longer, you- well.. That time isn't important, never mind that one- but the point is, you've never stayed this long. "

You don't really understand what he means, but you know you need to give him the room to keep explaining, so you nod and shuffle a little closer still, until your thigh is touching his femur through his shorts. 

"I'm just.. I'm afraid this time.. isn't going to last either. Not a single time you've been here has lasted this long, and it feels like your time is almost over again, and every day I expect to wake up and find you gone, but I can't figure out how to keep you here. You've never been like this, and I don't know how to deal with you this time."

After listening to the rest of Sans's lament, you understand less of what's going on, but you squeeze him comfortingly. "Sans, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere, I promise. " It's selfish of you, you know that, but you don't want to leave, even if it means you can't free everyone from the Underground. 

"You've said that before too." His eyes are blank, staring. He sounds shaky and unsure. 

"Sans, I couldn't leave you, I.." You hesitate, afraid of your own feelings, but you decide that even if he doesn't return your feelings, it's worth it to try to make him feel better. "I love you, Sans. I love you more than anyone I've ever known, and I can't stand seeing you miserable like this. Please, just tr-" 

Your words are cut off as he presses his face to yours in a kiss, holding your face in both hands. You melt into his touch, letting go of his shoulder with your arm and grasping his sides in your hands instead. He apparently has a tongue now, you find out as the two of you kiss for almost a minute, until you're gasping for breath between movements and even his skeletal frame is shaking slightly. 

"...You've never said that before." His eyes seem to shine as they gaze into yours. "Maybe this time is different.." He caresses your face with his bony hand, touching you as though he thinks you might be a figment of his imagination. 

"I've.. I've loved you all this time, but even though I know you'll come back different, won't remember, I couldn't tell you..." The admission leaves him slightly flushed in the face, and you reach up to put your hand on his. 

"Maybe I would have stayed, if I knew..." You trail off. "I'm.. honestly not sure what you mean by that, though... How have I been here before?" 

“That’s.. a longer story, but I guess we’ve got time right now, huh?” You nod, clutching his hand with yours. He sighs, taking in a deep breath and looking you right in the eyes again.

“Well.. do you know that feeling of ‘determination’ you feel at certain times…?”

 

You don’t know how much time has passed, but Sans explained.. everything. He even partially explained how he is aware of each timeline as it happens, though he didn’t explain what’s special about himself that allows it. He mentioned something that disturbed you, though; that you, at some point in one of the many timelines, actually went through and killed monsters. Innocent monsters. He said that he had to fight you during that timeline, and it had been the most difficult thing for him to try to stop you.. He refused to say how it turned out, and you honestly didn’t want to know. Now, you sit on the bench, absently holding one of Sans’s hands with yours, staring at the ground. 

“So I’ve.. reset the timeline..? A bunch of times..?” You try to get used to the idea, but you can’t quite wrap your mind around it. “And.. I’ve been the same person, but have acted differently every time?”

“Yeah, pretty much. That’s uh.. why I was.. am.. worried.” He stares into your eyes. His expression is thoughtful as he strokes your cheek with a gentle thumb. “You… you’re a wildcard, you always are. You’re the catalyst of all of the changes that happen in any timeline..” He smiles slightly, releasing a single nervous ‘heh’. “You uh.. you kind of scare me, honestly. N-not this time, you’re really.. really different this time, but.. just you, as a concept, I guess.”

You’re puzzled. “Sans, you know I wouldn’t hurt you.. I mean, I know I have.. or one of me has…? or.. Whatever. I don’t care what “I’ve” done before, I won’t hurt you, not again. Not ever.”

The skeleton surprises you again by burying his face in your chest, holding you close and squeezing you almost too tight with his arms. “S-Sans..? What’s.. are you alright..?”

He sighs again, a happy sigh this time, and moves his head up to nuzzle into your neck. You blush, but leave him to it, hugging him tightly back. “It is… so good to hear you say that. You have- well, you do have an idea of it now, but- you have no idea how good that is to hear.” He kisses your neck. You stop breathing for a moment, just a moment, but he notices, and you can feel his smile widen against your neck. 

“Geeze, for an occasional cold-blooded killer, you sure are easy to get all worked up,” he teases, opening his mouth. Before you can object to the teasing, which isn’t terribly offensive to you - but you literally just got done telling him you wouldn’t do that ever, at least in your current iteration - you feel his teeth scrape against your skin and you shudder, feeling a thrill run up your spine. Your head tilts slightly to allow him more space, and he takes the invitation, nuzzling you again and biting down gently. You feel so warm, so good, you don’t really know what to do with yourself, but you settle for gripping Sans’s shoulders and making a small noise in the back of your throat.

“You know.. Before this timeline, this ‘you’, I was getting pretty.. bonely.” You consider hitting him playfully, but he bites you again and your hands stay right where they are. “You’re not laughing.. don’t you find my puns.. humerus?” Even though you can’t see his face, you can picture the expression on it perfectly, and you laugh softly, breathlessly. “..You’re my favorite ‘you’, did you know that? The rest were great, at least most were, but this ‘you’...” He trails off, and you pull away to look at him, concerned that he was heading back into the hurt he had put himself under earlier. He’s smiling, the most genuine, non-shit-eating grin you’ve ever seen on his face, and you know then that this is your favorite ‘you’, too, if only because ‘you’ could make Sans so happy. You realize that’s been your ultimate goal this time around, and you resolve to make it keep happening.

“Sans, I love you.” Your voice cracks slightly, like you’re about to cry, and you find that your eyes are indeed stinging with tears. “I will always love you.”

“Even if you come back a thousand more times..?”

“I’m not leaving this time.”


	3. Chapter 3

You are falling, spiraling down and down into the darkness. You are calm and the air is still but you are falling endlessly, thinking that maybe you should try to catch the stony walls, but you can’t seem to get close enough. You’re not desperate, you know you’ve done this before, but you wish you could slow your descent, just a little.

You wake up to the feeling of a cold hand gripping your thigh. This would be unusual and a little terrifying it you hadn’t been over-sleeping in a skeleton’s house on their couch.

“Hey. You’ve slept enough, lazybones. It’s time to get up.”

It takes a lot of effort, but you manage to peel your eyes open slowly, blinking away that crusty sleepy feeling and yawning loudly. “G’mornin’,” you mumble, sitting up slowly. You don’t even remember coming back the previous day, not after processing all of the new information Sans had given you. It had been.. difficult to adjust to the idea that you had been here hundreds of times before, but you feel fine about it now, confident that you wouldn’t reset again. How could you, when you had such a good thing going here? 

“You, of all people, calling someone lazy?” you tease, standing up with a luxurious stretch. You hear a loud pop from both of your shoulders, but you don’t notice Sans falter in any way. Strange. With an internal shrug, you straighten out your pajama pants, which had bunched up around your calves in the night, and stare at him expectantly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it, but we’ve got somewhere to be today.” You frown. Where could he mean? If it was Grillby’s, you would be slightly disappointed, but not at all surprised, but where else could he mean? “Look, we don’t even have time for you to get dressed anymore.. Come on, we gotta go.” His eye glows bright blue for a few seconds, and you suddenly feel different. You look down to see that your pajamas have been replaced with your everyday clothes, a normal t-shirt and jeans. There is residue of blue smoke on the garments, but you brush it off like dust or pet hair and smile.

“Where are we-”

 

“- going?” You finish speaking in a completely different place, finding yourself and Sans suddenly not standing in front of the couch in his and Papyrus’s living room. Sans gives your puzzled expression a wink, then pivots to face the counter, speaking to the large, well-dressed fish seated behind it Where are you..? You have absolutely no idea, but it looks like a restaurant. It’s definitely not Grillby’s, that’s for certain, but you didn’t even know there were any other restaurants in the Underground, so you have never seen this one before, at least not in this timeline. You find yourself vaguely wondering how many times you had actually been here as a cat-like waitress leads you and Sans to a table and deposits the menus, promising that your server would be right there.

“...This is new,” you state, raising an eyebrow at Sans. “What is this place?”

“Oh, just a really fancy, expensive, reservation-only restaurant attached to a really nice hotel.” He looks pleased with himself. He’s kidding, right? You feel like this has to be a joke or a prank or.. something. You know Sans is great, you like him and all, but this couldn’t be..  
“I thought it would be a good place for an official date.” You feel your face flush, and you blink rapidly as your jaw hangs open. Date? As in.. a date? Like a real, actual, capital-D Date? “I take it you’re impressed..?” Sans is leaning back in his chair, wearing a confident smirk. You didn’t even notice until now, but he even changed out of his normal clothes for a tasteful but casual sweater with black slacks. 

“...A date.” You say it like you’re testing the word, cautious and quiet. “A real date.”

“Yeah, with a real skeleton. Aren’t you lucky?”

“At a.. fancy restaurant.”

“They even serve food here, can you believe it?”

“I’m.. on a date. With you. Right now.” You really can’t believe it. You’ve never been on a real date before, just hasty movie plans with a little fooling around after, and you are amazed that anyone actually thinks highly enough of you to take you on a real actual normal date, and at a really nice restaurant to boot! Your face finally catches up to your emotions, and you smile wide. “Thank you, this is great!”

Sans chuckles, shaking his head. “No, you’re great. I thought you deserved a treat.”

The reptilian waitress comes after a short delay, apologizing and asking for your drink orders. You order a sweet tea, no lemon, and Sans gets.. root beer. No surprise there. The waitress, whose name tag proclaims her name to be ‘Sandra’, rushes off to get your drinks and is back shortly after, leaving you alone with Sans again.

“So we’re.. dating?” You ask this tentatively, as if you’re afraid to scare him away. You know deep down he wouldn’t be scared away by something like that, but you’ve dealt with a lot of dating drama and you always have that doubt. “As in.. actual dating?”

“Is that okay with you?” Sans looks slightly unnerved suddenly, as if he’s afraid you’re upset that he decided to take you on a date without asking if that’s what you wanted or not. You clasp his hand, which is resting on the table, and chuckle.

“I’m more than okay with that, Sans.”

 

The rest of the date goes very well, with Sans refusing to let you look at the check, and you get a glimpse of a couple more zeroes than you thought food could possibly cost, but he insists that you’re worth the price and refuses to let you try to cover your half. After a few small protests, you finally relent, and he pays so that the two of you can leave. You expect to arrive instantly back at his place when you step out the door, and you aren’t disappointed as you somehow step from the doorway to the hotel into the doorway to the skeleton’s house. You never quite get tired of that, even though the feeling it leaves in the pit of your stomach is kind of weird and you still don’t understand how he does it. The two of you sit down on the couch.

“I know we just went to dinner early, but did you have fun on our date?” Sans is looking up at you, grinning ear-to-ear. You get the sense that he really likes saying that word. Date. It really does have a pleasant ring to it, you think.

“I did have fun on that date, Sans. My date was a perfect gentleman, and he paid for our meals, and it was very sweet of him to plan that all out for me.”

“For us,” he corrects. Your heart flutters. Us. You and Sans are an item. An us.

“For us,” you echo, touching his face gently. He grasps your hand and laces his fingers through yours, and your pulse jumps like his touch is electric. You lean forward and press your lips to his face, earning you a kiss back, and you close your eyes, savoring the moment. 

 

When you open them again, you’re in Sans’s room in the exact same position, but you’re both on his bed. You choose to ignore the mess of the room, continuing to focus on your skeleton boyfriend. Boyfriend.

“..Why are you so against walking?” you tease, snickering softly. Sans pretends to look offended, but you press into him and kiss him again and he smiles and holds you close. You move your hands under his sweater, gently brushing your fingers against his floating ribs, trailing upward as you keep kissing. He wriggles, not uncomfortably, pressing his bony hands into your back as you go. You trace two adjacent ribs back to his spine and linger at the vertebrae, letting your fingers hook up into the parts that curve downward. He shivers as you feel his bones.

You moan softly into his mouth as he digs his fingertips into your skin. Refusing to be outdone, you give him a wolfish grin and remove your hands from his spine, lacing them together and pressing to hear that cracking sound. You are rewarded by that catch of breath, that twitch, his fingers  
digging harder into your back. Seconds later Sans has his teeth at the place that your shoulder joins your neck, and his literally magical tongue presses down just before he bites you, just as hard as you like him to, just as hard as he knows you enjoy. In your old life you would have stopped someone from biting you quite that hard, but here, you don't care. 

"Sans.. god, Sans.." You can somehow feel him breathing on you, and a thrill runs up your spine as you go back to touching his. You hate stopping him from touching you even for a moment, but you suddenly need to not be wearing a shirt and you press carefully on his sternum so you have room to take it off. He freezes, staring at your bare chest, then with a blue glow his sweater is also gone. Your hungry hands roam over each other's bodies, feeling and touching and warranting gasps of surprise and pleasure. Your hands find their way down, down to the top edge of his pelvic bones, and his breath hitches in a way that makes you smile and want to keep going. 

You trace the top of his pelvis all the way around, resting your fingers on the base of his spine just above the smaller tailbone region. He arches forward, his own hands moving to grasp at your behind. Your heart is pounding like you've never heard it pound, and you groan quietly, pulling him as close as you can by the spine and kissing him, more desperately than usual. He kisses back, for how long you can't tell, then pulls away. "Are you declaring a tongue war?" he asks, smirking. Keeping one hand on his spine, you reach up to hold his face, running a thumb over his cheekbone. 

"Maybe," you purr, kissing him again, again, one more time before you trail down his jaw, pressing kisses to every bone you can reach, down his neck, to his collarbone, down the side of his ribcage. It drives him wild, but you gently push him down to lay on his back as you hover over him, holding yourself up by planting your arms on either side of him. Your mouth makes it to the waist of his pants, and you teasingly tug on it with your teeth, looking up at him through heavy lids. He is grinning and sweating and staring back at you, hands gripping the blanket under him tightly. 

"Are you sure you want to- to go this far? It's not too late to uh.. turn back, and I can't guarantee I won't-"

"Sans." You say it like it's your favorite word, like it's the most important name you've ever spoken. He shudders, blinking nervously. "I know what I want. And it's you. It's always been you." 

You lean all of your weight on one hand to free up the other one, using it to grip the waistband of his pants, tugging them off gently. "I want to.. make you feel good. I want to taste you, every inch of you." Your tongue runs along the ridge atop his exposed pelvic bone, leaving a wet, shiny trail. His hips jerk upward, nearly hitting you in the nose, but you thought that he might react that way and moved back to avoid that. 

"S-seriously, you might not be able to handle me like this.. " He sounds concerned, but you assume he's joking around, trying to psyche you out, but you're Determined to keep on. 

"After all this time, after everything I've put you through, even unintentionally, you deserve this, Sans." His bones rattle softly as he shifts and another shudder runs through him, as your tongue makes its way down his pelvic bones, lingering at the edges of the holes through the otherwise solid bone. He doesn’t speak for a while, only makes small noises of pleasure. You finally make it to the bottom edge of the bone when his eyes suddenly flash, and suddenly he’s not under you anymore. Your head whips around to see him behind you, standing at the side of the bed, teeth clenched.

“You can’t say I didn’t warn you.” His voice is gravelly, deeper than usual, and his eyes are blank and empty. You stare at him, filled with unease and somehow more aroused than before as the thrill of fear runs through you. You’ve never seen him quite this serious, and you are frightened, but you remain still.

You see a glowing tendril of magic leech out of Sans’s skull and curiously reach out to it with an open hand. It recoils at your touch, then wraps itself around your wrist and holds tight. You feel slightly panicked, but it doesn’t hurt you, and you look at Sans with wide eyes. Another tendril, and another, like tentacles, surround you and entrap you so that you can only struggle fruitlessly. You don’t struggle much, you trust Sans, but even so you feel that uneasy flutter in your chest when you realize you’re trapped.

“Sans..?” He doesn’t appear to have heard you. Another flash of blue preludes a tugging sensation in your.. everywhere, kind of. Not a physical sensation, but like something is pulling on your very being. You’re too confused by the sensation to try to stop it; it doesn’t feel unpleasant, just very strange. You hear a sound like the click of a lighter and the sensation stops, and there is a red glow hovering above your chest. To your surprise, whatever it is suspended above your trapped body is heart-shaped and.. shit, is that your soul? You thought you couldn’t see it outside of a ‘confrontation’ with a monster, which to you always felt more like you were just standing in front of the monster and talking to them, but there it is, glowing and pulsing. 

“I don’t understand wh-” You are cut off as another tendril reaches up and touches your soul tentatively, brushing against it and leaving a mark of purple where the two colors mingled. The effect on you is immediate and leaves you breathless, a tingle running through you from top to bottom. The purple spot fades back to red, and you are left breathing like you’ve just run a marathon. You’re not done deciding if it was a good feeling when the tendrils surrounding and holding you let go suddenly, leaving you lying on the bed and staring as your soul is grasped by all five of them. 

You cry out. Waves of passion and pleasure and weakness run through you in a way that is very hard for your brain to describe or translate, leaving your heart pounding faster and your breathing harsh and your face in awe. What is this feeling? Every time one of the tendrils shifts, you feel it, though after the initial shock it isn’t so overwhelming. You decide that you do like it, if the low moans escaping your mouth have anything to say about it. Again, you look at Sans. He stares back. His grin is mostly back, but the effort his magic takes is leaving him breathless too, and he climbs back onto the bed. The tendrils of magic move with him, still exploring your soul gently.

“This is how monsters typically, uh.. do the ‘do’,” Sans explains, his voice returning almost to normal as he encircles your body with his arms. “Sorry I didn’t explain earlier.. I probably scared you..” As much as you would like to not admit it, you know you can’t lie to the skeleton, and you nod, but you kiss his cheek. That disembodied soul feeling is still there, but the tendrils have slowed and are only giving your soul feather-light touches, brushing up against it tenderly.   
“I love it,” you say, and you really mean it. Especially now that you know that it’s the.. “normal” way things are done in the Underground. Kind of. “So is your magic..?”

“Yes, it’s an extension of my soul, like every other monster’s. It’s.. really intimate, to let your souls touch like this, and I really, really should have asked before I did this..”

“You warned me,” you say, clutching his hand and looking up at your own soul. It’s pretty, the purple color the two souls rubbing together have created. 

“That doesn’t mean.. Look, I know you’re human, and you don’t know everything yet, but you didn’t understand the implications of this before it happened and it was really awful of me to do this without permiss-”

“Sans. It’s done, don’t worry about it, I enjoyed- am enjoying it immensely. Please just..”

He nods and laces his fingers with yours, looking up to watch your souls touch. You glance over to see the purple reflected off of the white of his face, giving him a peculiar look. You smile and lean into his bare collarbone, nuzzling in to kiss it gently.

“I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one feels a little awkward to me, I was trying to keep the reader gender-neutral while also putting in some kind of smut, as a few people requested I add. I ultimately went with the soul-fucking thing, I hope everyone likes it still! Sorry if you really wanted normal smut.


End file.
